


stuck in the back of his throat

by fuwaesthetic



Category: Persona 5
Genre: (are discussed/alluded to so it's best if you really don't read until you're done lmao), Game Spoilers, Gen, Morgana & Akira's friendship is so important to me okay, Post-Canon, a boy and his cat
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-08
Updated: 2017-06-08
Packaged: 2018-11-11 10:55:03
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 949
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11146971
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fuwaesthetic/pseuds/fuwaesthetic
Summary: Akira’s glad Morgana came home with him, for a lot of reasons.(or: happy national best friends day, i decided to write about a boy and his cat.)





	stuck in the back of his throat

Akira’s glad Morgana came home with him, for a lot of reasons. It’s nice to have someone to talk to whenever he’d like, it’s nice to have company at school (given his classmates stop talking when he’s around, and it feels like Shujin all over again), and if he closes his eyes when he’s laying down, he can pretend he’s still in Leblanc’s musty attic, the cat’s warmth heavy but not oppressive on his chest.

At least until he has to leave his room, trotting downstairs to his mother’s slumped shoulders and whatever she’s ordered in lieu of her failed cooking. She’s cordial and distant, almost like she’s not sure where she stands with him—he’d changed since Tokyo, and she made _sure_ he knew that she’d noticed, an argument starting over it more than once—and it’s as stressful for him as he sure it is for her.

Youta Kurusu doesn’t make it easier. Akira pulls his knees up to his chest and listens to his mother argue and scream at her estranged husband, taking comfort in Morgana’s head bumping clumsily against his shoulder and the way he presses at his knees until he loosens up enough for him to climb in. He doesn’t even complain when Akira scratches beneath his neck in long strokes like he’s a real cat.

(Which he still refuses to accept. There _has_ to be more to him, he’s insisted to Akira. Lavenza was humanoid; he knows the other Velvet Room attendants are, too. He’s gotta be the same.)

“They split up a few years ago,” he mumbles into the black fur, replying to a question that doesn’t _need_ to be asked. “I don’t think they’ve ever been on good terms. Well,” he has to conceded, fingertips stalling, “they had to, at some point. Maybe I just screwed things up by being born.”

It’s not like he hasn’t thought so before. His mom gave him a tired look when he dropped the statement on her, his tone almost accusatory, and asked if he’d just _please_ take out the trash and go study or something. His father hadn’t deigned to give him anything at all.

“If you hadn’t been born, the world would’ve…” Morgana trails off when Akira laughs and shakes his head, leaning back against his door. “What’s so funny?”

“Yaldabaoth would’ve gotten someone else. It didn’t have to be me and Akechi.” The name tastes like ash in his mouth, and he rubs his tongue against his palate until it disappears. “It could’ve been him and someone else.”

Morgana’s ears flatten and his tail swishes against his legs, but Akira _knows_ it’s true.

“Maybe,” Morgana replies, voice low, “but they wouldn’t have been able to pull off everything you did. You’re the only Joker there is, Akira.”

Maybe. Maybe not. Akira closes his eyes and listens to his parents scream at each other over the phone, pulling himself up long after it’s gone quiet. Morgana stays in his arms, the top of his head pressing to his chin, and they both look out his bedroom door. His mom’s collapsed on the couch, fingers curling and uncurling in her long, dark hair, and he steps behind her. He wishes he’d taken massage lessons from Kawakami—they seem like they would’ve been good for this. For now, he lets Morgana sit on the back of the couch and sets his hands on his mom’s shoulders, clumsily mimicking the motions.

She’s tense at first, but gradually she relaxes, exhaling softly.

“Mom wanted to help,” Akira says to the darkness of his room, much later. Morgana’s blue eyes stare at him. “When I got arrested. She didn’t get very far though.”

He doesn’t remember if she gave up ( _I’m just one woman, Akira, I can’t do this_ ) or if she’d been discouraged from pursuing it, but she’d sent him off regardless. He reaches over and cards his fingertips through Morgana’s fur, eyes lidded. “I was still mad at her. I didn’t call her the whole time I was in Tokyo.”

“… You were busy with stuff too,” Morgana replies, a paw pressing onto his stomach. “She couldn’t have known that, but you did.”

Akira makes a noise of agreement, words otherwise stuck in the back of his throat. Morgana steps onto his chest, smacking him softly when Akira groans quietly at his weight, and tucks his paws under him when he lays down. _Monaloaf,_ Akira thinks. Futaba’d call him that.

“Akira,” the cat’s voice is barely a whisper, and he thinks about the nights spent comforting him from nightmares when that hushed whine would wake him from sleep. “I’m really glad you were born. I’m glad you’re the one I got to meet. Everyone else was great too, but…” Morgana buries his nose into Akira’s shirt; his ears are perked when Akira reaches up to pet him, and he smooths them down rhythmically. “I think you understood me best.”

“Same to you.” He knows it’s a little sappy, but it’s true—not that he doesn’t love his friends either, but Morgana had always understood, or at least tried to. Maybe it’s just because they’d both seen sides of each other they hadn’t shown to anyone else (living together would do that), but it was important. It _is_ important. “I don’t know if I’ve ever told you, but… Thanks, Morgana. I’m glad I met you, too.”

Morgana’s quiet before he starts snickering into his shirt, tail swishing back and forth. “Wow, Joker, _sappy_ much? I _know_ you are, you don’t have to say it—”

Akira casually shoves him off his chest, muffling his laughter against his hand when Morgana yowls and hits the floor—feet first, of course.

**Author's Note:**

> akira (暁) and youta (陽太) are both sun-related names; not used in the fic, but his mom's is hoshiko (星子), which is star-related. i love theme naming, why wouldn't i headcanon these for his parents.
> 
> anyway, thank you for reading! and happy national best friends day again. remind your pals you love them & also that they're huge nerds, because they probably all.


End file.
